Jury Reaches Partial Verdict In Former Restaurant Owner's Sex Assault Trial
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The jury reached a partial verdict in the trial of a former restaurant owner charged with sexual assault Wednesday.
Adnan Pehlivan was found not guilty on charges of simple assault and stalking.
The jury was deadlocked on charges of sexual assault and burglary.
"My reaction to the verdict is grateful there was a not-guilty verdict on two of the counts -- simple assault and stalking," said Pehlivan's attorney, Lee Rothman. "Also poses some very interesting issues. If there is going to be a retrial, what would be admissible, particularly the video of him with what they were indicating was him stalking. I believe double jeopardy may prevent them fro making such argument in the future.
"We are chipping away at this. Obviously members of the jury felt that the government had no proven their case beyond a reasonable doubt."
The defense moved to try and get Pehlivan out on bond after the video of him following the women is what was used, but the judge is still saying no bond in this case on Wednesday night. There are likely to be more arguments on that.
The new trial on the charges of sexual assault and burglary should begin within 90 days.
Wednesday was the second day of deliberations in the trial.
Prosecutors said Pehlivan stalked a woman and her friends as they traveled home from Kopy's Bar on Pittsburgh's South Side last May before breaking into the woman's home through her window and sexually assaulting her.
The defense claims the woman invited Pehlivan to her home after meeting him at the bar, but didn't want her friends to know she had done so.
The jury got the case on Tuesday, and jurors came back with three questions during their deliberations.
They wanted to hear to 911 tape when the alleged victim's friend called police, they also had a question about the stalking charge, and they also wanted to review the video from Kopy's Bar, where Pehlivan met the alleged victim in May of last year.
